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Best Time to visit Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica

I have only 2 full days in Rome at the end of August (Friday and Saturday).

1. Based on some blogs/review, sounds like Friday may be a better day to go at the end of August. Let me know if you agree?

2. What time in the day is best to visit these 3 places and the order of visiting? Is it better in the early morning or early afternoon? I plan to reserve the ticket in advance, but understand that Sistine Chapel may still be packed and line at St. Peter's may be long depending on timing. Any guidance here would be helpful. My 2 choices are:

- A: Early morning - See St. Peter's at open 7am or 7:30am, then go to Vatican Museum by 8:30/9am and head straight to Sistine Chapel. If I head straight to Sistine Chapel, can I back track to come back and visit the rest of the museum or I'm I force to exit after that.

- B: Early Afternoon - See Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel at 2:30/3:00 pm PT, then see St. Peter's at 5:30/6pm PT.

Remember I'll reserve the ticket to Vatican Museum in advance. My family and I aren't that much into museum and seeing everything. We walk pass and skip through things, and after awhile we get tired of it, so we think 2-3 hrs at Vatican is more than enough.

Early to St. Peter's - join the line at 7.30am. Vatican Museums - it does not matter what time you go it will be packed. The Sistine Chapel is a 20 minute walk from the entrance and everyone will have the same idea as you - to see it first. I would take an early entry tour instead. They start at 7.30am and you're in before general entry. Expensive but worth it.

Friday evenings are best for smaller crowds. This time is reservation only so you can get a seat in the Sistine
Chapel if you want and study the ceiling. Unfortunately for you the Friday night opening time does not operate in August. Not sure if first thing or late in the afternoon is better for you.

Comments: very little of the museum is air conditioned. I was really impressed by the museum when in my 20s but now older and was less impressed recently. There's a lot of junk on display but also great stuff, a bit like a flea market.

The Friday night entrances to the Vatican Museums aren't offered in August, unfortunately.

Friday probably would be better than Saturday, but it will crowded whenever you go.

Going to St. Peter's Basilica at 7 AM is a good idea, but obviously if you do that you can't do an early entrance tour to the Vatican Museums on the same day.

To be perfectly honest, although I've very much into museums, and the collection at the Vatican Museums is one of the world's finest in several respects, wild horses couldn't drag me to the Vatican Museums in August. If you're not into museums and don't feel as though you need to see everything, do yourselves a favor and skip this. If the Colosseum is one of the other things you're planning to visit during your very short trip, that will be more than enough stress for one trip.

I was in Rome with cousins in June. They wanted to take a tour of the Vatican Museums, and I told them to count me out. I would only go there in the depths of winter, on a weekday. When they went inside to meet their tour guide, and saw the crowds, they changed their minds and left, in spite of having paid for tours for five people.

I did accompany them to the Colosseum the day before, where we waited in line for 45 minutes in spite of having tickets in hand. I've been there several times before, and would have torn up the tickets, but I had offered to show them around, so I kept my feelings to myself.

I've always found no queue at all to get into St. Peter's Basilica if I go late in the day, after 5 PM, even in summer. However, either we hit an unusual day or the number of summer visitors to St. Peter's Basilica has dramatically increased since the last time I was there in the summer, two years ago. At 5:30 PM, the line of people stretched all the way around the square. It was moving quickly, but I estimate there was still more than half an hour's wait to get in.

With only two days in Rome, at the height of summer, I would spend the time seeking out the hidden gems of the city, and there are many. There are wonderful museums that would please even people who aren't into museums. There are fantastic archaeological sites that aren't sinking under the weight of tourists. There are lovely parks, dozens of fountains, splendid Renaissance villas, charming little piazzas, interesting shops, and many other things that will make you fall in love with the city. I have a feeling that anyone who goes to Rome in the summer and insists of visiting the two or three "must-sees" will very likely end up hating the city.

We were just in Rome the second week of July...lots of tourists, very crowded. However we went to St. Peter's around 8AM and breezed through a very short line. We started by going straight up to the dome and then you exit right inside the church (don't have to get in line again). The church was not at all crowded this early.

For the Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel we had Friday evening tickets. When we showed up, there seemed to be a pretty large line (even with our pre-booked ticket) but it moved incredibly quickly...they were very organized. The museum is so vast...the majority of the time we were alone in various rooms of the museum. As all tourists do, we went directly to the Sistine Chapel (a very LONG, interesting, up and down walk). It wasn't crowded. We were able to get a seat on the benches.

My advice...go to St. Peter's early and get an evening ticket to the Vatican Museum.

Vatican Museum/Sistine chapel: we prebought tics for first entry. Brochure you receive shows long way to Chapel and the direct way. We RAN the direct way and were the only ones, alone, there for about 7 minutes. Fabulous.

We left, came back around to the start of the tour and ended up at the Chapel about 45 minutes later with the crowds but had our 7 minutes alone.

You can walk back but it is difficult because you are going against the flow of people and groups.
Check out the "Pristine Sistine" tour offered by Walks of Italy.
I would recommend a tour to get the most out of your visit.